In fall 2025 the UT English department announced a new publishing concentration for the English major. The concentration equips students with specialized skills required for a career in print, digital, and multimedia publishing by offering cross-disciplinary coursework with other departments such as journalism, public relations, and design. 

Students can now simultaneously build a practical portfolio of technical skills alongside the literary and analytical skills the English major uniquely provides.

A concentration in publishing enables students to explore roles such as writing, copyediting, production, marketing, and design through training with faculty members from creative writing; rhetoric, writing and linguistics; and outside departments. In addition to the English major’s core class requirements, the publishing concentration will involve an Introduction to Publishing course as well as selecting classes from the following categories: professional writing, creative expression, and publishing skills.

Students in the new concentration also gain firsthand experience through a required publishing internship. With this, students have the opportunity to work with either one of the departmental journals (Phoenix and Grist), the department’s partnership presses (Sundress Press, UT Press, Newfound Press, etc.), or an approved outside arrangement.

The English faculty are enthusiastic that this new area of focus presents a customizable blend of creative, professional, and technical writing classes that will strongly position majors with marketable knowledge in the publishing industry and beyond.